FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT APPETIZERS - PAGE 5

With Mother's Day in the offing, consider Sunday brunch as a great gift. Actually, brunch seems like a well-deserved indulgence any time of year, for any of us. The sit-down-and-be-served Sunday brunch at The Kings Contrivance Restaurant is easy and effortless. Except, of course, for deciding what you want to order. But then you get to enjoy a bit of the bubbly while you ponder what goodies you want next. Part of the attraction of The Kings Contrivance, which opened in 1962, is the charming Federal-style mansion that is its home.

The Hickory Ridge Village Center has a lot to offer. The ambience there seems light, airy and contemporary when not a few of Columbia's commercial centers are looking rather tired these days. One of the center's long-time residents (since 1993, we're told, but it seems longer) is keeping up with the Hickory Ridge outside ambience with a charming new décor inside. Today's Peking Chef isn't exactly Zen, but the 130-seat restaurant provides a lovely, relaxed interior, with epoxy-topped wooden tables and wooden chairs in the center of the dining room, and booths along the sides.

Until the other night, the expression "eat with your eyes" had not made much sense to me. I figured that in polite society you ate with your silverware. When no one was looking, you used your fingers.The only thing you did with your eyes was to roll them with delight when you enjoyed something exceptional.The "eat-with-your-eyes" routine started becoming clear to me Saturday night when I went to one of those gala events where every restaurant chef in the city had whipped up a dish and was passing out samples.

Giuseppe Ristorante Italiano, 248 Albemarle St., (410) 685-1859. Open every day for lunch and dinner. Major credit cards. Prices: appetizers, $4.75-$7.95; entrees, $9.50-$22.50. **1/2Sometimes you get tired of Frenchified northern Italian cuisine or chic Mediterranean food. You've had enough hip art students working their way through college by waiting tables. Enough funky atmosphere. Weird breads with unexpected things like olives in them. High prices for a minuscule amount of arty pasta.

North Charles Street has a new hot spot. And we do mean hot. As in south-of-the-border cuisine. Mahmood Karzai -- brother of Qayum Karzai, owner of Helmand, Tapas Teatro and b -- has just opened Tampico Mexican Grill at 1200 N. Charles St. But this isn't any ol' taco joint. The menu actually is more representative of true Mexican fare than the food most of us gringos generally associate with that country. Sure, you can get your burrito at Tampico. But you'll also find a variety of fresh seafood dishes.

By Teddy Durgin and Teddy Durgin,Special to Baltimoresun.com | February 13, 2004

Are you planning an Academy Awards party, but don't know where to start? You don't want the timetable and budget to spiral out of control like a Jerry Bruckheimer or James Cameron production. At the same time, you would like to make the bash a success for you and your movie-loving friends. Here are some tips to get you started. The goal is to maximize the fun and comfort of your guests even as the annual Oscar ceremony stretches well past its usual three-hour mark on the evening of Feb. 29. Getting Started Sending invitations via the Internet is the best way to gauge who is and isn't coming to your Oscar party.

By Tom Waldron and Tom Waldron,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | September 25, 2002

Without the "Open" sign to tell you otherwise, it would be easy to assume the Mediterranean Palace on York Road across from Belvedere Square is closed. At dusk one recent night, little light emanated from the nondescript carryout, and it appeared as if one more city establishment had gone out of business. Inside, two customers were having a quiet dinner in a small dining room indifferently decorated with a lonesome tambourine, plastic flowers, a large mirror and faux ivy trailing along a faux trellis.

A new Afghan eatery - Afghan Kabob - has opened in downtown Baltimore and is already doing a bang-up business at lunch, according to owner Anwar Hamidi. The restaurant, at South Charles and Lombard streets, seats about 35 people, but much of its business is take-out and delivery. The menu lists seven appetizers ($3.95 each), six entrees ($6.95-$11.95) and two desserts ($3.95 each). Among the most popular choices, so far: kaddo, a baby-pumpkin appetizer; aushak, an appetizer that Hamidi calls Afghan ravioli; and Hamidi's homemade clay-oven bread.

Some people seek the answer to the question, "Is there life after death?" I feel an equally important question is, "Is it possible to diet and still eat out?"Chances are if you read this column with any degree of regularity, you have more than a casual interest in food. Therefore, if you have more than a casual interest in food, there is a good chance you do battle with the bathroom scale on occasion.I took my question to an expert, Rhoda Davis. Davis is an executive with the Social Security Administration at Woodlawn during the week.

With an air of secrecy similar to Oscar announcements, sealed packets landed with a thud on food-editors' desks recently. But instead of Academy Award nominees, the fat envelopes were stuffed with recipes -- all potential $1 million winners in the Pillsbury 50th Anniversary Bake-Off Cooking Contest. For the first time, the 100 finalists' recipes are being released before the Feb. 28 Bake-Off, including the entry of local contestant Liz Barclay of Annapolis. Marlene Johnson, director of product communications at Pillsbury, says that in previous years the recipes were kept confidential to help maintain judging integrity.